Jason Sattler: SHOCKER: Obamacare Is Working Best In States That Aren’t Trying To Sabotage It

Of the 106,185 people who have completed an application for health insurance, nearly 75 percent came from 14 states and the District of Columbia that both set up their own exchanges and expanded Medicaid. Unsurprisingly, California and New York combined for the bulk of the enrollments, 51,769. But the most promising news from the Golden State wasn’t even included in this report.

Peter Lee, the executive director of Covered California, reported Wednesday that as of Tuesday, 60,000 Californians had signed up for insurance. Signups have increased to a rate of almost 2,500 enrollees per day in November. At that pace, the state could be expected to enroll 402,500 people by March 31 but Lee says that he expects to hit a goal of 500,000 to 700,000 people by then, which means he expects the pace to pick up by at least 640 people a day to over 3,000 enrollees.

Red Kentucky is the only state in the union that voted for Mitt Romney and set up its own exchange, thanks in large part to Democratic governor Steve Beshear. The state’s site signed up a total of 32,485 Kentuckians, with 5,586 enrolling in private plans, in its first month of operation. This reduces the state’s uninsured population —estimated at 640,000 — by just over 5 percent.

President Barack Obama will visit John F. Kennedy’s gravesite and honor two of Kennedy’s lasting initiatives as the nation observes the 50th anniversary of his assassination in the coming week. Obama and his wife, Michelle, will be accompanied by former President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, at a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon. Also that day, Obama will be joined by scores of prominent Americans who have received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in paying tribute to Kennedy’s legacy.

Obama will present the award Wednesday to the 2013 recipients, including Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, the late astronaut Sally Ride, women’s rights activist Gloria Steinem, baseball Hall of Famer Ernie Banks, country music singer Loretta Lynn and 10 others. On Wednesday evening, Obama plans a speech on Kennedy’s legacy of service with a dinner at the Smithsonian American History Museum attended by current and past recipients of the medal, including baseball’s Hank Aaron, astronaut Buzz Aldrin, singer Aretha Franklin, economist Alan Greenspan, activist Jesse Jackson and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Kennedy’s grandson, Jack Schlossberg, is to introduce Obama at the dinner.

On Friday, the media got swept up in an unhelpful comparison between the rocky Obamacare rollout and the botched clean-up efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina …

But …. there is one obvious point of comparison. It doesn’t have anything to do with the political career of the sitting president, though. It has to do with the privilege that continues to dominate the United States’ political priorities.

It’s about who is worth rescuing.

…. Intent on resisting Obamacare at every turn, Republican legislators in over 20 states have refused to expand Medicaid, leaving many of their low-income residents with no good options…. But the current discussion is centered on a relatively small group of people who do currently have insurance, but whose plans don’t meet the minimum standard for benefit requirements put forth by the health reform law.

…. If we must draw comparisons between Obamacare and previous national disasters, consider this one. As a collective society, we still haven’t really learned the lessons of Hurricane Katrina – but not because of a broken website or a broken promise about keeping your plan. We haven’t figured out how to prioritize that Louisiana mother’s life.

Sherilyn Horrocks’ body is under siege. Her immune system is attacking her tissues and organs, causing her esophagus, stomach and liver to harden. “I’ll die of [systemic sclerosis] like my brother did,” she said. “It’s just a matter of time.” Hoping to buy more time, and quality of life, the 61-year-old career homemaker is dropping by Gov. Gary Herbert’s annual health summit on Thursday to try to persuade him to expand Medicaid.

She’s among 123,000 uninsured Utahns who would qualify for Medicaid under an optional expansion of the low-income health program through the Affordable Care Act. There is no cure for her autoimmune disease. “But there are medicines and procedures that would prolong my life if I could afford them,” she said. “I have a feeling I’m going to be one of those who falls through the cracks.”

Utah has yet to opt into an expansion, despite analyses showing it would bring billions in federal funding to the state during the next 10 years, create jobs and reduce the charity-care burden on hospitals. Republican legislators remain adamantly opposed, and Herbert is weighing the pros and cons of partial expansion scenarios to be discussed at Thursday’s summit.

US negotiators say they feel they are close to finalizing a nuclear agreement with Iran for the first time in a decade. “For the first time in nearly a decade we are getting close to [reaching agreement on] the first step towards a comprehensive agreement that would stop Iran’s nuclear program from advancing, and put time on the clock to reach a negotiated agreement that addresses all of our concerns,” a senior U.S. administration official told journalists at a background briefing at the State Department Friday.

“I don’t know if we will get agreement,” in Geneva next week, the U.S. official said. “It’s quite possible we can. But there are tough issues to negotiate.” The reason the last meeting ended in Geneva at 1am last weekend was that Iran, after receiving the consensus P5+1 draft proposal only late in the evening of November 9th, “felt it needed to look at the document and come back to the negotiations.”

In an interview with the BBC this week, Oprah Winfrey said of President Obama: “There is a level of disrespect for the office that occurs. And that occurs, in some cases, and maybe even many cases, because he’s African-American.” With that remark, Winfrey touched on an issue that many Americans have wrestled with: To what extent does this president’s race animate those loyal to him and those opposed? Is race a primary motivator or a subordinate, more elusive one, tainting motivations but not driving them?

To some degree, the answers lie with the questioners. There are different perceptions of racial realities. What some see as slights, others see as innocent opposition. But there are some objective truths here. Racism is a virus that is growing clever at avoiding detection. Race consciousness is real. Racial assumptions and prejudices are real. And racism is real.

Jennifer Herrera and her family are always on the move. She and her husband, Fredy, enjoy hiking in the mountains near their Southern California home and cheering on their children in one of their many sports — golf, football, volleyball or basketball. She was glad she had insurance recently when her son badly cut his face during a basketball game. “It was off to the emergency room we go,” she recalls. “Obviously, I had to pay for some of it, but thank God I didn’t have to come up with that $3,000 [for the full cost of the visit].”

Her family has always had health insurance, mainly because of hearing the story of Jennifer’s grandmother and the effect that not having insurance had on the family. It was the late 1940s, and Ethel and Chuck Meyer were proud parents of their first child, Bill (Jennifer’s father). “[Ethel] was hanging the laundry one day and just all of a sudden collapsed,” Jennifer says. “She didn’t know why. She had been kind of tired but chalked it up to having an active child.” Ethel eventually learned she had polio, a debilitating virus that reached epidemic levels in the United States prior to the development of the polio vaccine in the 1950s.

Jamelle Bouie: No, The Rollout Of HealthCare.gov Is Nothing Like Hurricane Katrina

Right now, the problem with the website is that it can’t accommodate everyone who wants to buy health insurance. That is a serious issue, but not the worst mistake ever made by a president.By contrast, George W. Bush’s response to Katrina comes close. Hurricane Katrina was one of the deadliest storms ever to hit the United States. It killed more than 1,800 people, destroyed tens of thousands of homes, caused billions of dollars in property damage, and nearly sank a major American city.

And the Bush administration’s response was criminally negligent, a basic failure of duty that should haunt everyone involved. Despite several days of memos and warnings to administration officials that Katrina would be a major storm, that the levees had been breached, that flooding had began, it took two days for President Bush—who was on vacation, spawning a series of photo-ops that would look awful in retrospect—to begin to organize the federal response.

Joshua DuBois: Anyone Who Counts Obama Out Hasn’t Reckoned On His Survival Skills

It’s been a week of football metaphors in politics. President Obama said this week that the administration “fumbled” the health care rollout. A lot of folks believe that this turnover is decisive, handing the ball to Republicans in Congress and opponents of health reform with the second half well underway. And now we’re starting to see frightened Democrats on the sidelines hovering over Obama like uneasy linemen, wondering if their QB has enough left in him to turn the game around.

Not me. I’ve seen this game–and this particular quarterback–far too many times before. And as sure as I know never to count out Peyton Manning when he’s down by a couple scores heading into the fourth quarter, I never bet against Obama when the press and pundits have declared game-over. It rarely, if ever, is–this guy knows how to win.

This is a president, and a country, who have been counted out more times than we remember, and bounced back in ways we quickly forget. The reality is, if we take the long view, we’ll see that our country has been on an upward trajectory over the last 5 years. The ball may have been fumbled, and momentum may be in the other direction. But if history tells us anything, it’s this: the smart money’s on the gray-haired, steady-handed guy in the White House, who has been down this field a few times before.

Embassy staff members listen to President Obama at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, China, Nov.17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama tours the Forbidden City in Beijing, Nov. 17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama is reflected in a window while touring the Forbidden City in Beijing, Nov. 17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama watches a performance at a state dinner with President Hu Jintao at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Nov. 17, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)

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One of the most beautiful moments:

President Obama meets survivor Mary Lee after laying a wreath at the memorial of the USS Peary in Darwin, Nov 17, 2011. Mary was 9 at the time of the bombing by Japanese aircraft which resulted in the sinking of the Peary on February 19, 1942

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People react as President Obama walks by on his way to address the Australian Parliament at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Nov.17, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

President Obama and Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard greet members of the Royal Australian Air Force after delivering remarks on the U.S. and Australian Alliance, in Darwin, Australia, Nov.17, 2011 (Photo by Pete Souza)

I have medical care through the VA, but my 14 yr old son has been without healthcare since we moved from ND to MD…. plus neither of us have dental care. Soooo this week I am going to either call or go to the MD website and sign us both up for the dental.. and my son for medical- hopefully. I will come back and share my story when I finally get it all done.

I’m literally crying right now. This statement hit me like a ton of bricks. I immediately thought of my dear, sweet grandmother, who I know for a fact, endured many years of emotional and , at times, physical abuse, from my grandfather. I hated him. As I got older, and figured out more and more what was happening….I hated him more for what he did to her. My father was in denial about this and did little or nothing…I think he didn’t want to believe that his own father would do such a thing to a kind, meek, loving woman.I remember some of us having conversations with her to leave him…but they came from a different time when you stayed no matter what. That promise, that vow they took all those many years before, was meant never to be broken, even if you were. I prayed that he would die first to afford her years of peace and joy….that didn’t happen. I never shed a tear when he passed…instead I was happy that he was wiped from the earth, never to belittle or torment another human being again.
Thank you Sir Patrick Stewart, for speaking out loudly and forcefully against this violence against women everywhere. THIS is what a real man looks like!

I hear you DF!!!!! that is my story also except it was my father…. ‘I never shed a tear when he passed…instead I was happy that he was wiped from the earth, never to belittle or torment another human being again’.

So sorry Layla and others for your pain. Similar things in my family led me to tell the man who has been my husband of 43 years, on on 2nd or third date that he might not want to get serious about me as I had issues and I also would never marry anyone who believed in spanking. Our two children (ages 38 and 35) have never been spanked. Hubby is a therapist and I have a minor in Psych. Abuse of any kind can really punch our buttons. Hugs to everyone here has experienced abuse, mental or physical or who has seen it and been powerless to stop it.

I agree! Have have never spanked my children EVER..and they are both amazing in every way. How is it alright for the people that children trust the most in their lives, to hurt them and cause them pain (some that we don’t see) ?? I’ll never understand that. Children are all born perfect. Adults screw them up.

Thank you aspirational12 for telling the truth. We can see the B.S. from the media, it seem just like they got their talking points from Republicans, Koch Brothers, Tea Party, Jim DeMint, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News.

He’s getting ready to report nonstop on the First Family attending the basketball game in MD…what they were eating, wearing, whether they kissed, what PBO said about ACA on the basketball court, what PBO didn’t say about ACA on the basketball court, etc….

Louisiana voters elected Republican Vance McAllister in a runoff to fill the state’s vacant Fifth District U.S. House seat on Saturday. McAllister, a businessman who embraced the expansion of Medicaid available to the state under the Affordable Care Act, defeated a Republican party favorite who called for full Obamacare repeal.

So glad you posted this, df. I saw the story on a blog we don’t like much around here and was going to paraphrase the news. Much better the way you did it.
Providing Medicaid to constituents….WINNING!!!!
Repeal ACA…..lose, lose, lose

The GOP idea that Obamacare is flailing because he pushed through a ‘partisan’ bill beyond Kafkaesque—and Republicans only believe it because they assume everything is about politics.
Here’s one thing I absolutely cannot stand hearing: that President Obama is getting what he deserves now because he passed such a “partisan” health-care bill. The suggestion is truly beyond belief and, quite literally, totalitarian in spirit, in the way it flips the truth so perversely on its head, turning the perpetrated-upon into the perpetrator and the aggressor into the victim. As Obamacare flails, one hears the “partisan” line frequently these days on television and radio. More maddeningly still, the alleged liberals and fact-based reporters on various panels often permit it to go unchallenged. Let’s set the record straight.

Geez—–they just scared us to pieces—–tornado WARNING on our TV—–and local township siren going off, saying Get to a place of Safety Now (or you all will die!) So I was mid-“clean up” and jumped into my outfit for the day, splotched on some hit or miss makeup in record time—–it’s important to be cute during a tornado—-grabbed my vital supplies—–water and computer—-moved my whole operation to the basement——got all set up for catastrophe——and then notice warning was cancelled—–weather moved north. Ooops—-just see they now have issued another warning. Violent weather all over the place. But fans are still tailgating and streaming into the Bears game in Chgo—–with PA announcements that fans may have to move to another location during the game, like the Grant Park underground garage. Fun! Not! And Mr. dotster is reporting from upstairs that some clueless gal is out walking with her baby. He’s yelling to her that there’s a tornado warning—-better skedaddle back home—-fast. Fun here—not.

Detractors ridicule President Obama’s apology to people who are “losing” their health-insurance plans. He had no need to apologize to my family. We are grateful for the Affordable Care Act. As for ridicule, consider the source: Most harsh critics are the same politicians who have fought every aspect of affordable health insurance for all.

My husband and I buy our own health insurance. We’re among those who don’t enjoy employer-paid health or other coverage, and we represent only about 5 percent of the population. That’s a small number, but you wouldn’t guess that from opponents’ vitriol or the headlines and TV they command. To these critics of the health law — especially those lamenting the botched implementation of it — spare us your crocodile tears. If there are any apologies, it should come from these unrelenting opponents hell-bent to repeal the reform but who never utter a peep what they would do to replace it.

You see, we’ve been forced to purchase our own health insurance for several years. The deductible was enormous; the premium was often more expensive than our monthly take-home pay, particularly during a bout of joblessness. We were forced to dip into our savings. The risk of going without insurance was a gamble we could not afford to take.

So, thanks to what detractors call Obamacare, we had no choice but to go with a better plan that costs less money. Thank you, Mr. President. God bless.

The political press has apparently learned nothing. It all seemed so positive. Bloggers relying on actual political science (rather than just hunches and manufactured garbage) appeared to be making serious inroads. The Monkey Cage (and my own blogging) are at the Washington Post; political scientists have columns at lots of top sites. A book on the 2012 election by political scientists John Sides and Lynn Vavrick, which argued, in large part, that most of the gaffes and the day-to-day ups and downs of the campaign didn’t really amount to much, was getting terrific reviews……..

…..Politico, by my count, has no fewer than 14 front page headlines today about the great Obamacare debacle. The Washington Post’s four top news articles and its four top op-eds are all about Obamacare, and the top op-eds are uniformly panicky…Ruth Marcus thinks Obama’s entire presidency at risk. Ditto for Milbank. And if that’s not bad enough for you, Krauthammer suggests that yesterday’s events spell doom for the entire liberal project. Not just conservatives, either; Ronald Brownstein devoted a column to, well, how the entire liberal project was at risk. It was a frenzy over … exactly what, anyway? The only shred of news about the Affordable Care Act this week to hang all of the hype on was the numbers on October signups, but given the thoroughly covered disaster with the initial rollout, the results were surely no surprise at all. As for the other strand of trouble, the pledge about keeping insurance, that’s been around for a few weeks now and nothing really happened this week to create a bigger flap.

All of which suggests that this is a press story, not a presidency or policy story……

Good morning e’rbody. Another message from my in-box I’d like to share.
Five (5) lessons about the way we treat people
1 – First Important Lesson – Cleaning Lady.

During my second month of college, our professor

Gave us a pop quiz. I was a conscientious student
And had breezed through the questions until I read

The last one:

“What is the first name of the woman who cleans the school?”
Surely this was some kind of joke. I had seen the
Cleaning woman several times. She was tall,
Dark-haired and in her 50’s, but how would I know her name?

I handed in my paper, leaving the last question
Blank. Just before class ended, one student asked if
The last question would count toward our quiz grade.

“Absolutely, ” said the professor.. “In your careers,
You will meet many people. All are significant.. They
Deserve your attention and care, even if all you do
Is smile and say “hello..”

I’ve never forgotten that lesson.. I also learned her
name
was Dorothy.

2. –
Second Important Lesson – Pickup in the Rain

One night, at 11:30 p.m., an older African American
woman was standing on the side of an Alabama highway
trying to endure a lashing rain storm. Her car had
broken down and she desperately needed a ride.
Soaking wet, she decided to flag down the next car.

A young white man stopped to help her, generally
unheard of in those conflict-filled 1960’s. The man
took her to safety, helped her get assistance and
put her into a taxicab.

She seemed to be in a big hurry, but wrote down his
address and thanked him. Seven days went by and a
knock came on the man’s door. To his surprise, a
giant console colour TV was delivered to his home.

A special note was attached.
It read:
“Thank you so much for assisting me on the highway
the other night. The rain drenched not only my
clothes, but also my spirits. Then you came along.
Because of you, I was able to make it to my dying
husband’s’ bedside just before he passed away… God
Bless you for helping me and unselfishly serving others.”

Sincerely,

Mrs Nat King Cole

3 – Third Important Lesson – Always remember those

Who serve.

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less,
a 10-year-old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and
sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in
Front of him.

“How much is an ice cream sundae?” he asked.
“Fifty cents,” replied the
waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and
studied the coins in it.

“Well, how much is a plain dish of ice cream?” he inquired.
By now more people were waiting for a table and the
waitress was growing impatient..

“Thirty-five cents,” she brusquely replied.
The little boy again counted his coins.
“I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on
the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice
cream, paid the cashier and left.. When the waitress
came back, she began to cry as she wiped down the
table. There, placed neatly beside the empty dish,
were two nickels and five pennies..

You see, he couldn’t have the sundae, because he had
to have enough left to leave her a tip.

4 – Fourth Important Lesson. – The obstacle in Our Path.

In ancient times, a King had a boulder placed on a
roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if
anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the
King’s’ wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by
and simply walked around it.. Many loudly blamed the
King for not keeping the roads clear, but none did
anything about getting the stone out of the way.

Then a peasant came along carrying a load of
vegetables. Upon approaching the boulder, the
peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the
stone to the side of the road. After much pushing
and straining, he finally succeeded. After the
peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed
a purse lying in the road where
the boulder had
been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note
from the King indicating that the gold was for the
person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The
peasant learned what many of us never understand!

Every obstacle presents an opportunity to improve
our condition.

5 – Fifth Important Lesson – Giving When it Counts…

Many years ago, when I worked as a volunteer at a
hospital, I got to know a little girl named Liz who
was suffering from a rare & serious disease. Her only
chance of recovery appeared to be a blood
transfusion from her 5-year-old brother, who had
miraculously survived the same disease and had
developed the antibodies needed to combat the
illness. The doctor explained the situation to her
little brother, and asked the little boy if he would
be willing to give his blood to his sister.

I saw him hesitate for only a
moment before taking a
deep breath and saying, “Yes I’ll do it if it will save
her.” As the transfusion progressed, he lay in bed
next to his sister and smiled, as we all did, seeing
the colour returning to her cheeks. Then his face
grew pale and his smile faded.

He looked up at the doctor and asked with a
trembling voice, “Will I start to die right away”.

Being young, the little boy had misunderstood the
doctor; he thought he was going to have to give his
sister all of his blood in order to save her.

Now you have choices.

1 Delete this email, or
2. Forward it other people.

I hope
that you will choose No. 2 and remember.

Most importantly…. ”Live with no regrets,
Treat people the way you want to be treated,
Work like you don’t need the money,
Love like you’ve never been hurt,
and Dance like you do when nobody’s watching.”

NOW more than ever – Please… Pass It On…
You never know how or when you’ll be paid!

You are so right Linda. I recall when the election was first called for PBO, Chuck Todd and Mark Knoller were busy tweeting that Romney was still leading in popular votes or that the margin was razor thin. They had very little to say on the issue in the next 24 hrs, when it was quite obvious that PBO had trounced Willard in the electoral AND popular vote count.

“Recently, the Climate Change Vulnerabiltity Index reported that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa are among those in “extreme risk,” due to climate change. The index takes into account the ability to recover from major disasters. In recent years, Somalia has been considered one of the most vulnerable nations, an assessment that appears to be borne out in this instance”….

I want to annoy some people by reminding them that when a person of Kenyan heritage enters the race, they are more likely to win.

More seriously, politics, like athletics is a test of endurance and in the case of ObamaCare, I am betting on PBO to win against all those forces who are trying to derail a policy that helps millions;
Now would be a great time to celebrate his Kenyan Heritage as a bonus during long-term challenges.

True, not all endurance races are won by people with Kenyan Heritage but this ancestry does not hurt (watched enough athletics to help me celebrate this heritage ;

WASHINGTON — A senior Obama administration official said on Friday that a solution could be found for one of the major stumbling blocks to an agreement that would freeze Iran’s nuclear program, and that the accord might be achieved next week.

“For the first time in nearly a decade,” the official said, “we are getting close to a first step that would stop the Iranian nuclear program from advancing and roll it back in key areas.”

Talks between six world powers and Iran are scheduled to resume in Geneva next week. Western diplomats hope to complete an accord then that would halt Iran’s nuclear efforts for six months while negotiators pursue a more comprehensive agreement that would ensure that Tehran’s program is solely for civilian purposes.

Iran insists that its nuclear program is entirely peaceful, but many experts believe it is intended to provide the country with the capability to develop nuclear weapons.

One of the major impediments to an agreement next week is Iran’s insistence that the international community formally acknowledge its “right” to continue to enrich uranium. The United States asserts that there is no such right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

ALERT: I’m just alerting folks to the possibility that you may encounter in your Twitter TL and on FB or elsewhere, an article which purports to be protesting “The Mainstream Media.”

However, the headlines don’t tell you the whole story. This is actually another Libertarian anti-Obama protest, much like the “StopWatchinUs” crap. This time, their “protest” is that the media is too liberal and pro-Obama.

Desperately trying to keep himself relevant while fading into obscurity. When PBO is no longer President, none of those dudebro organizations will have any use for him. He’d better start looking for a new gimmick….

He needs to worry about CNN being no longer in existence – because that’s where it’s headed. And with ODS-afflicted idiots like him on board, CNN won’t improve. Meanwhile the ACA is thriving and will only get better.

Their “hate” doesn’t bother him, it actually hurts THEM more. The WHCD has actually become more popular since PBO took office, and it’s BECAUSE of him that it’s now so popular. PBO makes seasoned comedians nervous….that’s just very telling.

Wow, I have never seen this in all my years of Bears watching. Evacuating 61.000 fans, Bears game on delay because of tornado warning. Tornadoes all over Illinois, have seen many of the familiar tragic photos of small town neighborhoods flattened.